Memory cells, such as antifuse one-time-programmable (OTP) memory cells, can contain leakage paths that are activated after programming of all the memory cells in a memory array. The activation of leakage paths can be caused by several mechanisms. For example, a leakage path can be caused by a defect that resides in a location that is not electrically visible until the rupture of the antifuse. Once the antifuse is ruptured and a filament is formed, this defect can provide a short circuit between two word lines, between two bit lines, or between a word line and a bit line. A leakage path can also be caused by a slight change in the reverse leakage of programmed memory cells. Even though the memory cells are not selected for read, the unselected reverse leakage adds to the off-current leakage and may trigger an incorrect read of memory cells. A leakage path can also be caused by a slight change in the leakage of weak defects induced by local heating or electromigration during the high-voltage programming. This change can be sufficient to locally either reduce the read voltage or read current during a memory read, causing the incorrect value to be read out. One commonality in each of these mechanisms is that the problem cannot always be detected during the programming of any particular bit but can be detected after programming several bits of the memory array.